Reunited
by whitedove03
Summary: This story will not be completed any time soon. Natalie Balsom's store is robbed and its John McBain to the rescue. They share a past but will that affect their future? Read and see! And also review! Pg now but will be NC 17 in the future.
1. Chapter 1

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Yes I am back folks and with a new story. I am excited by the show for the first time in months and I decided to try a new story idea! Hope ya'll like it and please shower me in reviews. Its been so long since i have had any I think I may be suffering from withdrawl!! LOL Read away and hope you like it!!!

Ps. I will finish Unexpected some time but I am at a block with that one. Hopefully when the Muse of that story returns I will finish it.

**Reunited**

**This is an AU fic. Natalie does not know the Buchanan's and John is still in the FBI**

A/N I do not own the characters they are owned by ABC and though they re abused there I will try not to abuse them any more than necessary. Anyone with any complaints can e-mail 1

'Shit! What do I do now?' Natalie Balsom thought as she stared down at the unconscious body at her feet.

Her hands trembled and her body shook with shock tremors. Her long red hair was matted and damp with sweat and blood, her clothes were also covered with blood spatter. Her once white shirt had copious amounts of Orin Jenkins' blood.

Her mind kept replaying the horror of what happened just minutes before...

_"Is it ok if I leave now, it's slow tonight?" asked Martina. She had a date and business was slow that night._

Natalie glanced over from the register at her friend and co-worker and smiled. "Sure. It's slow anyway. I think I might close early anyway." As was her right since she was the owner of the small novelty shop. They sold everything from naughty books to weird paper airplanes. She actually had a regular customer who bought those paper airplanes in an attempt to seduce men. She was nuttier than a fruitcake but she was a paying customer...

"Thanks you're the best boss ever!" Martina gushed. She headed to the back of the store to get her stuff together then bid Natalie good night.

Natalie smiled somewhat wistfully as she disappeared out of sight. To be that carefree again, She actually couldn't remember being that excited about something as simple as a first date. For the last 2 years her life had been poured into getting 'Natalie's' off the ground.

Heading into the back for some cleaning supplies she didn't hear the door open as someone came into the store. Holding the 409 and a rag she came back out intending to clean the windows while she waited for someone to come in. As she rounded the doorway she stopped dead as she came face to face with a very large man dressed in black. Holding a deadly looking gun.

"You! Give me all your money!" The guy demanded gruffly. His voice distorted by the Halloween mask he had covering his face.

Natalie stood there frozen for a second then rushed to the register and opened it up. Scared out pf her mind she didn't think about trying to fight him. He was big and mean and had a gun. She set down the cleaning spray with a 'thunk' as she got the cash drawer open.

The gunman handed her a small black bag and said, "all of it. NOW" He lifted the gun a little higher to further get his point across.

Natalie emptied the drawer into the bag and handed it to him with fingers that shook. She jumped when he snatched it out of her hand. Then her eyes widened in sheer terror as she saw him lift gun up, aiming directly at her head. She stared into his eyes, the only part of his face visible thru the mask, and knew he intended to kill her. With out thinking she grabbed the bottle of 409 and squirted it directly into his eyes just as he pulled the trigger on the gun.

"AHHHHHH!" the man screamed as the chemicals burned his eyes. He leapt at her in rage squeezing the trigger twice more.

Natalie dived behind the counter and scrambled away as the gun fired off again. On her hands and knees she crawled over to the nearest display and grabbed the closest thing she could find to defend herself.

The next moment she was thrown to the ground and the man was on top of her his hands around her neck. She took the glass paperweight that she had grabbed and brought it down onto the back of the guys' head. He roared in pain and jumped off her, blood from his wound dripping on the floor. He grabbed his gun again and aimed it at her once more.

Natalie thru the paper weight at him and ran thru the next isle. She grabbed a Letter opener from the shelf to use as a knife just in time. He had torn the mask off and Natalie could see he was enraged as the man ran towards her. She could see he was intent on punishing her for hitting him and she tried to run away.

It was too late however and he grabbed her by the arm and threw her onto the ground.

Natalie thinking, rightfully so, that he was going to rape her, brought the letter opener up and jammed it into his stomach. Blood poured out of the wound and onto her as she shoved him off. The guy lay there silently but Natalie could see that he was still alive. Though not for long if she didn't call for help.

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She had been there for hours now sitting in the uncomfortable chair talking to one of Atlantic City's finest. After she had called 911 the cops and ambulance had come and taken the robber away. She had been asked the same questions over and over again. She was tired and horrified and just wanted to go home and to bed.

The guy was going to live but that's all they would tell her about him. Event though when the older detective had seen the guy's face he had turned dead white and then his face had turned red with rage. He had gone to the other cops and they had all reacted with varying degrees of horror and rage and Natalie didn't know why.

All she knew was that they had called the FBI and she had to wait here until they got there.

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John McBain was elated as he headed for the Atlantic City police department. Not only had a cop killer been caught there was also a witness that could put him away for a long, long time. Orin Jenkins was in stable condition at the AC hospital and had guards on him at all times. He had gone on a crime spree 6 months earlier that had resulted in 4 civilians and 2 cops killed in a blood shoot out with police. Yet the man had gotten off on a technicality. Now they had the chance to put him away for life and he was there to make sure that it didn't get screwed up again. And to make sure the Witness stayed alive long enough to testify.

In the past anytime Orin had been caught the witness to the crime would either mysteriously disappear or suddenly have an unfortunate accident.

John didn't usually take care of witness himself but in this case it was a priority matter and he had been specially assigned to this detail. Because of the serious crimes Orin had committed it was especially important to get him locked up and away from the public, it was election year after all and the public wanted justice for its fallen citizens.

He didn't have all the details yet about the witness so he would have to get up to speed when he got there. All he knew was there had a female about 25 years of age at the store Orin had tried to rob. Apparently she had hit him in the head and then stabbed him with a letter opener in an effort to save her own life. 'Brave girl' he mused silently as he pulled into the parking lot with his FBI issue sedan.

Getting out he ran a hand thru his unruly hair wishing for the millionth time that he had taken the time to get it cut. He strode purposefully into the station, his long stride covering the ground quickly. He headed straight for the Chief's office and knocked at the door.

He was bid enter and he did. After a few minutes both he and the Chief came back out of the office and they headed directly for the desk where Natalie was seated.

As John walked over to speak to the witness he was struck by how familiar she seemed, even with her back turned to him he felt like he knew her.

"Natalie" The chief spoke and she turned around, "this is FBI Agent..."

"John McBain!" It was Natalie who finished his sentence. Her face as shocked as her eyes as she took in a face she hadn't seen in more than 5 years.

"Natalie Bolsom!" John said, equally as shocked to see her again.

They stared at each other for a moment then Natalie got up and embraced John in a friendly hug,

"So I guess you two have already met, huh?" The chief said smiling slightly despite the events of earlier.

to be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Don't own them. if i did there wouldn;t be ny need for fanfiction cause the storylines on the tv would be good. LOL. Anyone with any complaints can e-mail**

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**Chapter 2**

John hugged Natalie for another moment then pulled away. He looked into her smiling face and noticed that while she was certainly glad to see him the events of the night had taken their toll on her. Her face was strained and her eyes showed fear and fatigue.

He was shocked that it was her that he would be protecting. He hadn't seen Natalie in almost 6 years, not since he had entered the police academy. She had been in college then and their long time thru high school friendship had just taken a back seat to their goals. Before he knew it they hadn't spoken in months, then years.

"Yeah. We actually went to school together," Natalie answered, bringing John back to the present. "Can you believe that this big lug actually took me to my Junior Prom?" She laughed, "I had the best looking guy there. Course he had already graduated High school by then so I had the oldest date there as well."

The Chief frowned," You were involved romantically?"

"No, just friends," John answered with a smile. He looked at Natalie again. "It really is good to see you again. I just wish it were under better circumstances."

Natalie nodded and gave a slight shudder as the events of the night came back to her, in detail. "Yeah." She thought for a moment then started, "What are you doing here anyway?"

John shifted uncomfortably for a moment. He knew she wouldn't like what he had to say. "Uhh, I'm actually here to take you into temporary witness protection."

Natalie took one step back and said, "What? No way! I have a business to run! I'm not going anywhere."

John sighed, he hated having to say this, "You really don't get a choice in this Natalie."

Natalie's eyes flashed at that and she said, "Oh yeah?" With that she turned around and marched towards the door. She was jerked to a halt when John grabbed her arm. "Let go of me you asshole. I don't care if we were friends a long time ago; I don't care if you are some big shot FBI agent! This is my life and I need to get back to it!"

"Dammit Natalie!" Even after all the years apart she could still frustrate him to no end! It was like the back in high school and he was trying to convince Natalie not to do something. She always had all these plans and would act on them no matter what he said. Any time he tried to stop her it never went well and almost always ended with her not speaking to him for a week while she did what ever it was he had been trying to convince her not to do. "That man you stabbed tonight," he started hotly.

Natalie paled at the reference, the heat that anger had put on her face faded to leave her face almost past white, "What about him?"

"He's a cop killer, Natalie. Do you think he is just going to let you testify against him? He's going to take you out the first chance he has. Do you really want to make it easy on him?" He let go of her arm and stepped back as she took in his words.

Natalie was scared, both by his words and by the memory of the look in Orin's eyes when he pointed that gun in her face. She knew it was serious but it galled her to give him, or anyone for that matter, that much control over her life. And that's what she would be doing if she left, if she went into hiding. "I can take care of myself, John. I've never run away from anything before and I'll be dammed if I'll run and hide from this like a scared little girl!"

"Natalie, I think it's best if you listen to Agent..." The chief began only to be cut off by Natalie.

"No, I will not leave my store, my friends, my family, for that piece of shit. I'll be careful, I'll hire a body guard, hell I'll even close early bit I will not leave!" She had worked hard for her life and she would not give it up for some thug that happened to pick her store to rob.

John sighed, he knew that look on her face, it was the look that said that she had made up her mind and she wouldn't change it. He hated to have to do this... "Natalie..." he said regretfully before grabbing her wrist and snapping a cuff on it and then attached the other to his own wrist.

"You bastard!" Natalie spat in outrage. Before she quite knew what she was doing she pulled back her free arm and slugged John on the right side of his jaw.

"God Dammit Natalie!" His head whipped back and he staggered slightly. 'Jesus, she still packed a wallop.' He thought to himself while he rubbed his throbbing jaw. He straightened up and glared at her, "I'm going to let that one slide cause of what you went thru tonight..."

"Oh thank you Mr. Super agent Sir!" Natalie said sarcastically. She was furious and had no qualms about showing it. She was shocked that she had punched him but she wasn't sorry, he deserved it.

John rolled his eyes and then looked over at the Chief, who was staring at them with a look of disbelief, "I can handle this from here. Call this number with any updates on the case," handing a business to a shocked and somewhat amused Chief he pulled Natalie out of the station as she fought and cursed him. He felt bad for treating her this way, especially considering how good of friends they had been but this was better than Natalie ending up in a ditch somewhere, needing dental records to identify the body.

Once in the car John removed the handcuffs and put them back into his pocket. "Look, Natalie I'm sorry, ok?"

Natalie remained silent, fuming over his treatment.

He sighed, "I'm just doing my job."

Natalie turned and glared at him, "I thought we were friends, John."

"We are! That's why this is so important. I know it's been a while but I still care about you. I don't want to have to go to your funeral. These are dangerous people Natalie." He was completely sincere and his voice reflected that.

Still not convinced, "You cuffed me like a criminal and then dragged me thru the police station, it was humiliating John!"

"I'm sorry for that." When she just glared at him he made a noise of frustration, "You know I'm sorry. I just... I just..." he paused for a second trying to express his feelings, "I know you," she went to interrupt but he held him his hand, "I know you. No matter how many years have passed I still know you. I know you are scared of Orin Jenkins but I also know that you're stubborn and brave and would feel like leaving town for a little while is like running away. I know that you hate to run, but sometimes leaving is the best thing to do."

"How can you say that?" Natalie wanted to know. "If I leave now its like saying to this guy that he won. Its like saying that he can control my life, that he can chase me away. He gets to know that what he did was too much for me and that I couldn't take it."

"No Natalie, he gets to know that even after what he did he can't touch you. He can't make you not talk, not testify at his trial. He gets to know that you were brave enough, strong enough to stand up to him. He gets to know that he will spend the rest of his life in a cage because he messed with you." John said forcefully. He saw her struggle and he saw the rage at him lessen as she took in his words. He hoped she would understand why he had done what he had done.

Natalie was quite for a long moment while she digested his words. She stared out at the road as he drove thinking them over. After another long moment she sighed. 'He was right,' she decided. God she hated it what he was right. "I hate when you do that!" She said.

"What?"

"When you make sense!" she said in exasperation. She didn't want him to be right, she hated it when he was right. She gave a mental 'Ugg' and then sighed again. "Ok, I'll go with you."

John suppressed his grin and nodded seriously. "We need to go to your apartment to get your things." He could see she was sulking so he brought his hand to her face and brushed her hair behind her ear. Taking her chin in his hand he turned her face gently towards him and said softly, "This isn't for ever, just a couple weeks until the trial. Then you can go back to your life."

At that familiar gesture Natalie managed a small smile and said, " I really did miss you John."

He nodded and said, "I missed you too, Natalie." They fell silent after sharing a small affectionate look, both wondering what the coming weeks would bring.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I do not own the characters they are owned by ABC and though they re abused there I will try not to abuse them any more than necessary. Anyone with any complaints can e-mail **

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**Chapter 3**

"So, you going to tell me where exactly we are going?" Natalie asked John teasingly as they approached the third straight hour of driving after they had stopped off at her apartment to get her things. She had called Martina to run the store for her while she was gone, which of course had lead to a discussion of 'why' she needed someone to take charge and why she was leaving town for a while.

John glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her expression. She was trying to be light, even teasing but she wasn't quite pulling it off. Her mouth was tight and slightly pinched and her eyes also spoke of her fear and apprehension. "We're going to visit my brother for a while. My cover, in case someone might ask, is that I am on vacation and just visiting Michael."

Natalie smiled genuinely at that, "How is Mike these days? Did he finish Med school and become the great doctor he always wanted to be?" She thought about John's younger brother. He had been in the same grade as her but had attended private school on a full scholarship. When he had come home, which hadn't been often, he had seemed quiet and reserved, not at all like John who was bold and liked to take charge of a situation. She also remembered that Mike had once had quite a crush on her. He had asked her out on several occasions but she hadn't wanted to get involved with someone who wasn't going to be around for only a day or two before going back to school.

John grinned at the thought of his brother. "Mikey has done well for him self. He finished school and is working in Llanview Pennsylvania as a doctor, working with some pretty important people. He's actually getting married soon," he told her, his pride for Michael clear in his voice.

Natalie was happy for Mike she thought he had been a good guy and deserved some happiness, especially after his and John's father had been gunned down in cold blood when they were children. They had caught the killers, Spencer Truman and his alcoholic wife Paige, but it had really traumatized both of them not to mention sending their mother into a depression that she still hadn't come out of.

"That's good, I'm glad he's doing so well," she paused then said, "so we're headed for Pennsylvania huh?" She had actually never heard of Llanview Pennsylvania. It seemed a long way away from Atlantic City, and she loved Atlantic City.

"Yeah, it's a quiet little town. I figure any strangers asking around or looking for you will stand out like a sore thumb," he explained to her a little reluctantly. He wasn't used to explaining his actions but this was Natalie so he made the effort to be more informative than he would usually be.

Natalie remained quiet at the unintentional reminder as to why he was there with her. For a moment she had almost forgotten why John was back in her life after so long. She had just taken comfort in the fact that he was there and that it was much the same as it had been when they had been in school.

Sensing Natalie's change in mood John wanted to smack himself. She had been almost calm and he had to go remind her of what happened. He muttered out a "sorry about that" and then was quiet himself for a long while.

After a half an hour of silence John yawned and then said, "Want to stop to get some sleep soon?"

Natalie was exhausted her self so she said with a yawn, "Yeah. I'm so tired." She was slumped against the door with her head lying against the window. The car seat was uncomfortable and with the many bumps in the road she hadn't been able to get any sleep during the drive.

John nodded and threw a smile at her as he pulled off the highway and into the nearest town. He drove until he found a motel that looked both safe and clean. He pulled into the parking lot and shut off the car. "Duck down and stay there till I get back," he told her, "we don't want anyone to get a look at you."

Natalie did as he asked because she was too tired to argue with him about it. She stayed with her head down for what seemed like a long time until he finally came back and hopped into the car.

"Keep your head down till I tell you," he said gently as he drove to the back side of the motel. When he parked the car he got out and looked around the motel, incase someone was following them. Satisfied that it was clear he went back to the car and said, "Ok you can sit up now."

When she did he opened the door and helped her out shielding any view of her with his body. He walked that way till she was in their room then said, "Stay there. I'll go get our bags."

Natalie sat down on one of the beds and shook her head. John was really taking this body guard/witness protection thin seriously. She was equally amused and exasperated by it but refrained from voicing any thoughts of either emotion. She knew John was good at his job, he would require nothing less than the best from himself. He had been that way from the moment he decided to be a cop and it was obvious that he had changed little in that respect.

She flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes and thought about the last time they had spoken

_"I have to do this Natalie," John said patiently as Natalie paced in front of him. _

"But why do you have to go so far away? Can't you be a cop in Atlantic City?" John was her best friend, she didn't know what she would do with out him. "Why do you have to go to Quantico?"

"Natalie..." He said, reaching up he took a lock of her hair and tucked it behind her ear, "It won't be forever. I'll be back when the training is done." He felt bad about leaving her alone with only Rex and Roxy but he needed to do this. It had been his dream since before his father died. In fact after his dad died he had become even more determined to be an FBI agent. He wanted to do something good and worth wile; he wanted to get justice for the victims of men like Spencer Truman.

"What if they don't have you work in AC? What if I never see you again? Who's going to tell me if I'm being a bitch? Who am I gonna play pool with. You know that you are the only one around here that gives me a decent game..." She knew she was being whiney and unreasonable but she was scared of losing her best friend. If life had taught her anything it was that life was unpredictable and nothing was certain.

"I promise that we will see each other again." John knew she would miss him, he would certainly miss her but it was time. He had to do this.

Natalie looked at him with serious eyes and said, "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise." He smiled his flirty smile at her and said, "I have to come back other wise who would whip your but at 8 ball!"

Natalie glared at him for a moment then burst out laughing. She had a sudden thought and abruptly stopped laughing. In all her worries she had forgotten that there was someone else that his moving affected as much if not more than her, "What about Caitlin? Is she ok with this? I know you guys were getting pretty serious."

John smiled at the mention of Caitlin, "Actually..." he dragged out the word.

"What? Don't tell me she dumped you! I really thought you guys were perfect together." Natalie was suddenly worried. She liked Caitlin, what little she knew about her anyway, and had thought that she had loved John enough to wait for him.

"No, she didn't dump me. I actually asked her to marry me and she said YES!" John explained with a big smile. "We're planning the wedding for after I am done with my training."

Natalie could see his excitement and was excited for him...them. She hugged him and said, "I'm so happy for you. She punched his arm lightly, "You better invite me to the wedding!" She gave him a mock stern look and put her hands on her hips.

"I promise, you'll be the first to get one!" 

Natalie was shook out of the memory as John came back in and shut the door. She felt saddened when she remembered that the invitation had never showed up despite his promise.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When John came back into the room he saw the sad look on Natalie's face as she lay back on the bed. He really felt bad about all that had happened, after her childhood she didn't need any more horrible stuff to happen to her. Being attacked and then having to change her whole life in order to stay alive was not the way he wanted to come back into her life.

To be honest he had thought of Natalie often over the years that had separated them. Sometimes he would be in a situation and suddenly he would wonder what Natalie was doing and how her life was going. As he stood there watching her he remembered their first meeting back in high school. He had been a freshman while she had been in 7th grade. He had been walking home when he had come across a couple of his buddies hassling Natalie.

"Let me by!" Natalie yelled at the three boys blocking the sidewalk.

"Come on girly we just want to talk!" said the tallest of the three.

"Talk to someone else. I have to get home, my brother is waiting for me." Natalie tried to say.

One of the others grabbed her arm, "Give me a kiss and we will let you by."

"No!"

"Come on its just a kiss" the boy said, "You're so pretty, with that beautiful red hair, I bet you have kissed a lot of guys..."

Natalie shrank back and tried to put as much room between them and her as she could.

John had seen that and came up behind Natalie. Looking at the three boys he said, "leave her alone guys. Don't you have anything better to do."

The tallest looked at John and, wanting to look cool, said, "We weren't gonna hurt her. This is Natalie, her mom is one of the town whores. She is always down at the casinos trying to con the men into giving her money..."

John frowned but stepped a bit closer, "Well Natalie here is a friend of mine. Just leave her alone." He glared at the other boy as he lied. He didn't like the fact that they were picking on her simply because her mother was not so good. His dad always taught him to judge a man by his actions, not the actions of others.

The three grumbled but didn't want to offend John. He was the most popular guy in their grade and they wanted to stay on his good side. "Yeah, ok, what ever you say John. We're heading down to the boardwalk... you want to come?"

John just shook his head and said, "Not today. I have things to do."

Natalie breathed a sigh of relieve when the boys turned and left, walking towards the boardwalk. "Thanks." She said to him shyly.

John looked down at the suddenly shy girl and said, "No problem. My dad always says, 'you can't let other people be taken advantage of if there is something you can do to stop it.'

Natalie looked up at her dark haired savior, "He sounds like a good guy," she said sadly, thinking of her own father who was an abusive dirtbag.

"He's a cop. I'm gonna be just like him," John said proudly then paused as he realized that he hadn't introduced himself yet. "I'm John McBain by the way."

Natalie stuck out her small little hand and said, "Natalie Balsom."

After that he had walked her home almost every day after school. Talking about almost everything, from his desire to be a cop to her mom's gambling habits. He sighed at the memory and that brought Natalie out of her thoughts.

She sat up suddenly and smiled a little, "You get everything from the car?"

John sat the bags down by the bed and sat next to her, "What were you thinking about just now?" he asked as he brought his hand up and pushed a stray lock of hair away from her eyes.

"The last time we saw each other..." she said, "I remember how sad I was that you were leaving and how much you wanted to be an FBI agent..."

John grinned a little, "I was actually just remembering the first time we met."

Natalie smiled a little at that but said seriously, "You know, I waited for that invitation. I waited but it never came."

John was confused for a moment then stiffened as he realized what invitation she was talking about. "Oh... Natalie... about that..."

"No..." Natalie said, "Its ok. Really. I just wondered why you never sent it. But then I realized that you were busy with the FBI and getting married, you didn't have time to..."

"No that's not it, Nat." John interrupted her. "Caitlyn and I never got married, that's why I never sent it, there was no wedding..." He tried to say it calmly but his voice must have gave something away because Natalie's face became angry.

"Why? What did she do?" Natalie was angry with Caitlyn now. She had seen how much John had loved her and knew that he would have done anything for her.

John settled more comfortably on the bed and thought about what to say. He really didn't like talking about this but Natalie deserved an answer. He should have gotten in touch with her then but it had hurt too much to talk about. "She left me about a month before we were supposed to get married," he explained.

"Why?" Natalie was shocked. She hadn't known Caitlyn well but she had really seemed to be in love with John.

"I should have known something was up when she kept pushing back the wedding date but I thought she was just nervous about marrying someone in the FBI." He thought back to that time and winced, "It was pretty obvious that she was unhappy, but I was so involved with my training and then my first cases that I didn't see it until she was breaking up with me. She said that she wasn't happy anymore and that I was a complete workaholic then packed up and left."

Natalie put a hand on John's leg and said, "I'm sorry John. I really thought it would work out with you guys."

John sighed and said, "So did I but some things just ain't meant to happen.

"Hey, at least you are doing good, catching the bad guys..." She paused and then quirked a grin, "And I doubt you have been hurting for female attention since."

"I haven't been interested in female attention since Caitlyn left."

"Jeeze! Now that's taking a long morning period and really putting it to the test. You have been avoiding women for years?!" Natalie was shocked. She wouldn't have thought he would hang on so long.

"It, ah, hasn't been years exactly." John said feeling a bit foolish. Obviously Natalie thought he was still hung up on Caitlyn but that really wasn't the case. He just didn't have a lot of time for women and frankly after Caitlyn left him he had no desire to get dumped again because he worked to much.

Natalie frowned, "How long has it been? Just how many times did she postpone the wedding?"

"It's been 8 months," John admitted. "I wasn't in any huge rush to the alter. I thought we had all the time in the world, it just didn't seem like a pressing thing."

"8 months?!" Natalie was even more shocked, "Jesus, I'm really sorry. That just sucks."

John frowned and then said, "lets talk about something else now, better yet why don't you go take a shower while I take another look around outside." He grabbed the key to the door and said, "make sure you lock the door after me."

Natalie was grateful for the respite, she was tired and she did need to take a shower. She was actually surprised that John had said as much as he had about Caitlyn, he normally wasn't one to talk about things. It was just so weird, in some ways he was just like he had been before yet in others he was so different. She sighed wearily as she followed him to the door, once he was out she locked it behind him and headed to the shower.

John walked around the motel checking out all the cars and looking for anything that might be suspicious. As he walked he thought back to what he had told Natalie. About how getting married hadn't seemed pressing. He couldn't help but think that maybe he had known even then that he and Caitlyn wouldn't work out and that was why he hadn't been pushing to get married quicker. He had loved Caitlyn, no question about that, but maybe he hadn't been ready to be married, maybe he had known that then and had maybe been unconsciously doing things to make Caitlyn angry.

It was a hell of a thing to realize now though.

Completing his check of the perimeter he went back to their room and unlocked the door, glad to notice that Natalie had locked the door. When he went in he saw that Natalie was in bed already, sleeping. He quietly closed the door and grabbed his bag. He headed for the bathroom and took a shower then silently got into bed. Tomorrow would be another long day.


End file.
